sharrack

Hey Guys,
I mentioned this problem a while back and I'm getting more concerned so here are a few more details.

It is a intermittant problem where I smell a strong raw gas smell from the left side of the truck.
It may hang around for up to 2 hours or so then...........nothing.
Just like that ..........no smell.

I rolled around under the truck yesterday and found nothing I would consider
suspicious.......and no smell anywhere but when it's on.........boy you can smell it from 15ft away from the truck .

Here's a few items of interest.
1- I'm in AZ so the temps as of late have been 100-115
2- no....I've not noticed it after filling up.
3- I did smell it after rocking and rolling on some trails.......but it did not go away even after driving on a level trail.
4- can a gas cap go bad and not vent??

Thanks for the help........Kenny S

Godzilla

Try to get a peak at all the injectors that you can. You should be able to see all the ones on the passenger side and the first one on the driver side. Sometimes the o-rings go and begin to leak, at first being somewhat intermittent, and then eventually begin to piss all the time. The smell is stronger when running since the fuel is leaking from the injectors and "warming up" on your engine. Run your truck and if you see any liquid on the injectors or on the head then its the o-rings.
Same thing happened to me, however it was in the extreme cold when it began to surface.

sharrack

Under the hood was my next move so how much did it run you to do new injector seals?
Is it a Do it yourself project?

Thanks, kenny S>

Godzilla

If you know how to turn a wrench and am comfortable with your skills, its really not that bad. Took about 2hrs start to finish. The most expensive pieces were the o-rings! I cant believe how much those little buggers were.
I only wanted to do it once so I replaced all o-rings, insulators and bango washers. Be careful when crackin the fuel rail since youll have some pressure in the system even if you open up the gas cap and what not.

sharrack

Thanks,
I checked the injectors and looked at all that I could with a mechanics mirror
but I didn't really see anything out of the ordinary.
I do believe it's something near the gas tank because the smell is very strong
along the drivers door to rear quarter panel.
I'll take a trip Sunday with a flashlight and a mirror and wait for it to happen again.
It sucks because it's 110 degrees out and I'm usually out in the hot desert when it happens.
What bothers me is how it just smells........then its' gone!

Kenny

Godzilla

Hows the fuel filter?

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

Yes, a gas cap can go bad allowing fuel fumes to escape. I would look at that as a first possibility. Do you have emissions down there?

Ron Helmuth

Death Cougar is correct-gas caps do go bad and when we have our emissions stickers done here they pressurize the caps with a device to check it.

The only other thing I could think of was the connections at the vapor canister but I believe that is under the hood on our Runners and you would likely smell it more to the front of the vehicle.

X-AWDriver

You aren't overfilling your truck? It could be your charcoal cansister could be saturated and isn't functioning properly. This can happen even when not overfilling.

mt_goat

That was my first thought too.

sharrack

Thanks guys, great advice.

Funny thing.........my last two fill ups have been with the nozzle set on the medium speed and not topping off after it clicks. No gas smell !

My runner can take quite a bit more after it clicks off and I have been topping off............sometimes.......whoops! Too much!

I think the topping off could be the culprit.
I believe my cap is tested during inspection.
I'm guessing thats the cannister right under the hood under the windshield.
My smell comes from the front door area along the side of the vehicle.
Could be! Any tips on checking the cannister?
Kenny S>